Employees of an Iowa-based brokerage firm that has been unable to account for $220 million in custom

WASHINGTON -- The demise of an Iowa brokerage where the founder tried to kill himself hurts investor confidence and could damage the markets for options and futures, investments that keep food and energy prices in check.
Peregrine Financial Group declared bankruptcy Tuesday and hasn't accounted for $215 million of customer money. Authorities car rentals with bike racks in germany said founder Russell Wasendorf Sr. tried to commit suicide by running a hose from the tailpipe of his car to the inside.
budget airline tickets thailand Employees of an Iowa-based brokerage firm that has been unable to account for $220 million in customer money found their boss in his car at company budget airline tickets thailand headquarters, with a tube connecting budget airline tickets thailand the vehicle s tailpipe to the interior, authorities said Tuesday.
Employees of an Iowa-based brokerage firm that has been unable to account for $220 million in customer money found their boss in his car at company headquarters, with a tube connecting the vehicle s tailpipe to the interior, budget airline tickets thailand authorities said Tuesday.
Federal regulators have filed civil fraud charges against Peregrine Financial Group, accusing the firm and its owner of misusing customer funds and failing to keep them separate from the firm s money as required by law.
INVESTORS SPOOKED: The demise of an Iowa brokerage budget airline tickets thailand where authorities said the founder car rentals with bike racks in germany tried to kill himself probably hurts investor confidence and could damage the markets budget airline tickets thailand for options and futures, investments that keep food and energy prices in check.
Texas cotton grower Brad Heffington speaks Wall Street s language of hedges, correlation charts and the like as easily as he discusses budget airline tickets thailand weevils and pesticides. Yet today his financial knowledge is of limited car rentals with bike racks in germany use.
its implosion addles traders already worn down by months of scandals, missteps and revelations of fraud, said Michael Greenberger, a former senior official at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which regulates the industry.
"These markets have lost the confidence of their customers, budget airline tickets thailand car rentals with bike racks in germany from the small businesses that need to use them to hedge, to the large funds who use them to invest," said Greenberger, car rentals with bike racks in germany a professor at the University car rentals with bike racks in germany of Maryland School of Law.
If the markets don't receive a strong, immediate boost of confidence, he said, "everyone is going to be hurt, because hedging - if it's done properly car rentals with bike racks in germany - helps consumers by creating lower prices. If not, prices are going to go up."
Futures and options allow companies to lock in prices for commodities, so an airline buying budget airline tickets thailand fuel or a farmer buying fertilizer can predict what those things budget airline tickets thailand will cost. Knowing in advance saves businesses money and reduces prices for consumers.
car rentals with bike racks in germany When fewer investors participate in a market, it becomes more difficult to buy and sell investments quickly at the price that traders want. People end up paying more than they otherwise might, and small changes in demand jerk prices up and down.
Futures and options were specialties of Peregrine, budget airline tickets thailand which filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation in Chicago late Tuesday. budget airline tickets thailand The company bought and sold the investments for small retail investors and some larger clients.
Wasendorf car rentals with bike racks in germany left behind a note that led police to notify the FBI, which has launched a preliminary budget airline tickets thailand inquiry. Wasendorf was accused in civil fraud charges Tuesday of misusing money from a bank account at U.S. Bank, claiming it contained more than $220 milllion when the balance barely topped $5 million.
Peregrine's failure piles on the ruin of MF Global, which was run by former New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine. It was the first case on that scale of a brokerage grabbing client money that was supposed to be walled off.
- Facebook's high-profile stock offering in May was botched. Technical problems marred the open, the stock still hasn't returned to its offering car rentals with bike racks in germany price, and shareholders have said financial information was withheld budget airline tickets thailand from some investors.
- Despite a slowly recovering U.S. economy, stock trading has been unusually volatile during the past three summers because of Europe's debt crisis, uneven economic data and last year's downgrade of the U.S. credit car rentals with bike racks in germany rating.
"It's typical for an older person car rentals with bike racks in germany to bring in a clipping on one these subjects, and they're always asking, 'What does this mean?' and they don't have the complete story," said Mike Sullivan, a Charlotte, N.C., consultant to financial advisers.
CFTC officials have discussed creating a deposit insurance fund, similar to the fund that compensates people when stock brokerages fail and the Federal Deposit budget airline tickets thailand Insurance Corp., which covers bank deposits.
The CFTC has argued budget airline tickets thailand that it lacks the resources to conduct more aggressive enforcement. President Barack Obama's budget proposed budget airline tickets thailand expanding the agency from about 700 employees to about 1,100, Greenberger said, but congressional Republicans have blocked car rentals with bike racks in germany efforts to increase its funding.
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